The Omega Glory (episode)
The Enterprise discovers the derelict starship Exeter drifting in space, its entire crew killed by an unknown plague. Summary Responding to a distress call, the [[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)|USS Enterprise]] discovers the starship [[USS Exeter|USS Exeter]] in orbit around the planet Omega IV. When Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Lieutenant Galloway beam over to the ship to investigate, they discover the ship to be seemingly abandoned... only uniforms and some crystals remain. McCoy's analysis finds the crystals to be what was left of the crew with all the water removed. A tape left by the Exeter's ship's surgeon reveals the crew was killed by a virus that was brought up to the ship by the landing party; only Captain Ronald Tracey remained alive by staying on the planet's surface. Kirk orders the landing party to beam down to the planet at once. Once on the planet, Captain Tracey informs them there is a natural immunity offered by the planet's environment -- they will stay alive only as long as they remain on Omega IV. Captain Tracey lives among the Kohms, an iron-age people engaged in a war with the Yangs, a seemingly primitive, savage and fierce tribal culture -- one of whose leaders has just been taken captive. Kirk learns that Tracey has been using Federation technology to assist the Kohms in their fight and has become something of a leader of the group, a clear violation of Starfleet's Prime Directive of non-interference with developing civilizations. Tracey explains that his goal was mere survival, but Kirk soon learns that he has an ulterior motive. The Kohm people have no record of any kind of disease but possess extremely long lifespans, well over 1,000 Earth years. He wishes to use the resources of the Enterprise to isolate the cause for this "super-immunity", cure themselves and share the agent with the Federation. To do this, he must keep the Yangs at bay, and asks for additional phasers to slaughter the remaining Yang force. When Kirk refuses to assist him, Tracey confiscates the landing party's phasers, takes the party prisoner and throws Kirk into a cell with the Yang "savage" while he plans a massive assault against the Yang armies. After a fight, however, Kirk comes to realize that the Yangs worship concepts such as freedom and bear remarkable similarities to the native peoples of North America -- the "North American Natives" -- and helps the Yang prisoner escape. McCoy, in the meantime, learns that both the super-immunity enjoyed by the Omega IV inhabitants -- and the plague that killed the Exeter's crew -- came as a result of biological warfare experiments similar to those researched by Earth in the late twentieth century. He discovers that the longer a person stays on the planet, the more well-established the immunity; if the Exeter landing party had stayed on the planet just a few hours longer, no one would have died. Tracey's Kohm force is routed by the Yangs and he realizes that Kirk freed the Yang prisoner to warn the others of the attack. He escapes to confront Kirk, only to learn the truth about the planet; still hoping to isolate a bargaining chip to counter any charges against him, Tracey fights Kirk, only to have both taken prisoner by the Yangs. Kirk and Spock eventually realize that Omega IV's culture was an extremely close parallel of Earth's ("Yangs" is a mispronunciation of "Yankees," while "Kohms" orignally were "Communists") except the Omegans fought the war Earth managed to avoid, and the Kohms took over the planet. The Yangs have been fighting to regain their land ever since; this is confirmed when the victorious Yangs bring in their battle standard -- an ancient, tattered "stars and stripes" US flag. The Yang prisoner is Cloud William, their chief, and the "holy words" (that only a chief may speak) are a badly slurred version of the Pledge of Allegiance. Kirk interprets the Pledge and speaks the words himself, and begins to explain where he is from, but Tracey picks up on the theme and tries to turn the Yangs against Kirk by declaring he was "cast out of heaven" -- pointing to Spock's appearance as similar to the appearance of "the evil one." To test Kirk, Cloud William reads from the "greatest of holies" and challenges Kirk to translate. Unable to initially translate, Kirk counters that their sacred legends promise that good is stronger than evil, and fights Tracey man-to-man to prove it. As Kirk defeats Tracey, a landing party of volunteers from the Enterprise, led by Lieutenant Sulu, beams down to take control of the situation. Seeing this, Cloud William believes Kirk to be God's servant. Kirk informs the Yangs that the "holy words" were not merely written for chiefs, but for everyone, even the Kohms. He reads the "greatest of holies" -- the preamble to the Constitution of the United States of America, and tells Cloud William the words must apply to everyone or they are meaningless. When Spock asks Kirk if his actions do not also violate the Prime Directive, Kirk explains he was simply explaining the meaning of what they were fighting for... as all the Yangs read the Constitution. Log entries *''Captain’s log. Aboard the USS Exeter, commanded by Ron Tracey, one of the most experienced captains in the Starfleet. What could have happened to him, and the over 400 men and women who were on this ship?'' *''(Log entry made by medical officer of the USS Exeter)'' If you've come aboard this ship ... you're dead men. Don't go back to your own ship. You have one chance. Get down there. Get down there fast. Captain Tracey is... *''Captain’s log, supplemental. The Enterprise has left the Exeter and has moved into close planet orbit. Although it appears the infection may strand us here the rest of our lives, I face an even more difficult problem - a growing belief that Captain Tracey has been interfering with the evolution of life on this planet. It seems impossible. A star captain's most solemn oath is that he will give his life, even his entire crew, rather than violate the Prime Directive.'' Memorable Quotes "A star captain's most solemn oath is that he will give his life, his entire crew... rather than violate the Prime Directive." : - Excerpt from Kirk's log "Wu – tell the captain your age." "Age? I have seen forty-two Years of the Red Bird. My fath–" "Each Year of the Red Bird comes once every eleven years, which Wu has seen forty-two times. Multiply it... Wu is 462 years old. His ''father is well over a thousand." : - '''Tracey' and Wu "Hard to believe we were once foolish enough to play around with that stuff." : - McCoy, on biological warfare experiments "They sacrificed ''hundreds just to get us out into the open. And then they came -- and they came! We drained four phasers and they still came... we killed thousands and they still came!" : - '''Tracey', describing the rout of the Kohm force "There's no serum! There are no miracles! There's no immortality here! All this is for nothing!" "Explain it to him, doctor!" "Leave medicine to medical men, Captain Tracey; you found no Fountain of Youth here. People live here longer now because it's ''natural for them to!" : - '''Kirk', Tracey, and McCoy "The American Indian... Yangs... Yanks... Spock – ''Yankees!" "''Kohms... ''Communists. The parallel is almost too close, captain. It would mean that these people fought the war your Earth avoided, and, in this case, the Asiatics won and took over this planet." "''But, if that's so... all these generations of Yangs fighting to regain their land..." "You're a romantic, Jim." : - Kirk, Spock, and McCoy "That which is ours is ours again; it will never be ''taken from us again... I am Cloud William – chief. Also son of chief. Guardian of the Holies, Speaker of the Holy Words, Leader of Warriors. Many have died, but this is the last of the Kohm places; what is ours is ours again!" : - '''Cloud William' "E Plebmnista; norcom, forcom, perfectumum." : - Yang version of We the People... "The fight is done when one is dead." : - Cloud William "No – ''no! Only the eyes of a chief may see the E Plebmnista!" "This was not written for chiefs." : - Yang Scholar and Kirk "These words, and the words that follow, were not just written for the Yangs, but for the ''Kohms as well!" "''But the Kohms–" "They must apply to ''everyone, or they mean nothing! Do you understand?" "''I... do not fully understand, one named Kirk... but the Holy Words will be obeyed; I swear it!" : - Kirk and Cloud William "There is no question of his Tracey's guilt, captain; but does our involvement here also constitute a violation of the Prime Directive?" "We merely showed them the meaning of what they were fighting for; liberty and freedom have to be more than just words." : - Spock and Kirk Background Information * This is the second of three times the Enterprise encounters another ''Constitution'' class starship with the entire crew dead. The other two were in "The Doomsday Machine" and "The Tholian Web". * Roy Jensen's voice was electronically altered for this episode. In the preview for the episode, you will hear unaltered dialogue for Cloud William that doesn't have the "slowed down" effect. * Fred Steiner composed the "Star-Spangled Banner" motifs for this episode. * The Yang women's navels are clearly in view in this episode, showing how inconsisent the censors were with this rule. * Identical female screams are heard in this episode, "A Private Little War" and "The Gamesters of Triskelion". * This is the first time the chief medical officer of a Federation starship (in this case, the doomed Dr. Carter) is seen in command of his/her ship. Not until Dr. Beverly Crusher was placed in command of the [[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)|USS Enterprise-D]] in "Descent, Part II" would another doctor be seen in command of their ship. (Dr. Crusher was technically in command in "Remember Me" when she was the only crewmember left, however, since it wasn't the real Enterprise, it cannot be counted.) * Despite Lt. Galloway's demise in this episode, David L. Ross would return as Lt. Johnson in two episodes in the third season. Galloway's pointless death in this episode is particularly sad when you consider that in his previous appearance he was picking up tribbles. According to Ross in the unauthorized biography of William Shatner, Gene Roddenberry wanted him to appear regularly in the series, but Ross was not interested in this much acting. * Ed McCready makes yet another appearance on Star Trek as the ill-fated Dr. Carter. McCready appeared numerous times in all three seasons of the show in short bit roles. Dr. Carter was originally going to be shown dissolving on-camera. * This episode was written by Roddenberry after he had been to Washington, DC. Apparently, he was so moved by the US Constitution, as well as other artifacts from early American history, he wanted an episode to reflect American pride, yet at the same time look at how things could have turned out if the Cold War, which was still going on at the time, had gone badly for the world. * This was one of three draft stories considered for the second pilot of the series, first draft . The other unchosen draft was "Mudd's Women". "Where No Man Has Gone Before" was the script that was eventually picked. "Omega" was filmed in middle and late December 1967. * Check out the Kohm guarding Dr. McCoy. This actor can be seen in green coveralls in "The Man Trap", both in the corridor and in the turbolift, and as one of the miners in "The Devil in the Dark". He can also be seen extensively as a background character in many episodes of Kung Fu and Hawaii Five-O. * While analyzing the crystals into which the Exeter's crew have dissolved, McCoy says that we are all about 96 percent water. The actual figure is closer to 70 percent. *James Doohan (Scotty) does not appear in this episode. * Ron Tracey is excellent in personal combat. Although Kirk will vanquish him in the final climactic battle, in his escape attempt in Act Two, Tracey easily and completely trounces Kirk in a matter of seconds. This is impressive work by Morgan Woodward, with no stunt double used. * Tracey obliterates Spock's jury-rigged communicator and Spock falls unconscious. In the footage following, it appears that Kirk is performing CPR on him. * In a letter reprinted in "Inside Star Trek," Roddenberry himself submits his teleplay for this episode for consideration for an Emmy Award. * Another McCoy-Spock debate was filmed for this episode, but edited. Just before the landing party left the Yangs' flag room, Kirk cut short an argument that seems to be about nothing. The reason McCoy and Spock were in an argument was cut from the episode. The dialogue excised from the final print was follows: **McCoy: Jim, the parallel's too close. They seem so completely human. Is it possible that... ? **Kirk: The result of Earth's early space race? **Spock: Quite possible, Captain. They are aggressive enough to be human. **McCoy: Now listen, Spock, you... * One apparent continuity error has the Enterprise security team at the end of the episode beaming down and then beaming up again without staying long enough to aquire immunity to the virus. Links and References Main Cast * William Shatner as Kirk * Leonard Nimoy as Spock * DeForest Kelley as McCoy * George Takei as Sulu * Nichelle Nichols as Uhura Guest Stars * Morgan Woodward as Captain Tracey * Roy Jenson as Cloud William * Irene Kelly as Sirah * Morgan Farley as Yang Scholar * David L. Ross as Lt. Galloway * Lloyd Kino as Wu * Ed McCready as Dr. Carter * Frank Atienza as Liyang (credited as Kohn Villager) Co-Stars * Eddie Paskey as Leslie (uncredited) * William Blackburn as Hadley (uncredited) * Frank da Vinci as Vinci (uncredited) * Paul Baxley as Kirk (stunt double) References calcium; carbon; common cold; ''Exeter'', USS; Kohm; Omega IV; Omega IV virus; Omega IV native; phosphorous; potassium; Prime Directive; Starfleet Regulation 6; United States Constitution; United States of America; Yang External Links * Omega Glory, The de:Das Jahr des roten Vogels es:The Omega Glory fr:The Omega Glory nl:The Omega Glory